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Megabus advice

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dvboy

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I have just booked a return trip from Birmingham to Aberdeen on Megabus (I'd go by train but the price is the main factor) overnight leaving birmingham around 2am and arriving 4am on the return.

Does anyone have any advice of what to expect in terms of vehicle, seats, facilities? Where might it stop on the way and for how long?

I've done Megabus from Cardiff to Birmingham (via M50!) a couple of years ago in the daytime and all I remember is getting annoyed by a regular passenger chatting with the driver for the entire journey.
 
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mbonwick

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Will either be a 15m Plaxton Pather or Van Hool Astromega I would think.

Facilities - toilet, air con and that's about it. Possibly WiFi.
 

rail-britain

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Does anyone have any advice of what to expect in terms of vehicle, seats, facilities?
Where might it stop on the way and for how long?
The majority are double decker, with air-con and toilet
Expect a brief stop at Glasgow and Perth, but that's about it, and you are not normally permitted to leave the coach
 
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Will defo stop at Glasgow, be surprised if you cant get off for a bit at that stop, may also stop at Preston and Dundee
 

Techniquest

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Should be a single deck coach, based on my one experience of London to Dundee via Middle Earth (in this case, Birmingham, Manchester, Preston and Glasgow) in December 2008. Depends on the circumstances at the time really, I've seen them dupe it (that is, send two vehicles out) on overnight stuff before.

All I can say is, make sure your phone is off and don't even think of going near it with a drink that's warm or hot. If your bag's very big at all, be prepared to let them toss it into the luggage area. Even a lightly loaded holdall is too big.

Oh, and don't expect to get much sleep...
 

Statto

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The service stops at Dundee/Perth/Glasgow/Preston/Birmingham.

There used to be an odd rule now been scrapped on Aberdeen-London & inverness-London Megabus services, that all passengers had to change vehicles[those going to Aberdeen had to catch the Inverness Coach from London & change when they met up at one of the stops near Edinburgh & vice versa]on both Northbound & Southbound services.
 

Liam

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The service stops at Dundee/Perth/Glasgow/Preston/Birmingham.

There used to be an odd rule now been scrapped on Aberdeen-London & inverness-London Megabus services, that all passengers had to change vehicles[those going to Aberdeen had to catch the Inverness Coach from London & change when they met up at one of the stops near Edinburgh & vice versa]on both Northbound & Southbound services.

I think this still exists on the M20 service from Inverness. You have to change at Perth onto the M11 from Aberdeen to get to London. You can only travel to London from Ferrytoll or South of there. Similarly you can travel from Inverness to Edinburgh or Newcastle, but not London.
 

sonic2009

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I think this still exists on the M20 service from Inverness. You have to change at Perth onto the M11 from Aberdeen to get to London. You can only travel to London from Ferrytoll or South of there. Similarly you can travel from Inverness to Edinburgh or Newcastle, but not London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabus_(United_Kingdom)

I can see WIKI still believes this to happen.
 

Statto

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I think this still exists on the M20 service from Inverness. You have to change at Perth onto the M11 from Aberdeen to get to London. You can only travel to London from Ferrytoll or South of there. Similarly you can travel from Inverness to Edinburgh or Newcastle, but not London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabus_(United_Kingdom)

I can see WIKI still believes this to happen.

I had a look at the times on the Megabus site last night & it didn't mention you have to change vehicles.

If it's a direct service i'd rather pay extra & use another company, so i can stay on the same coach through out the journey[unless of breakdowns ecc], than be forced to change to another coach going to the same place, quite odd passengers have to change coaches going end to end.
 

rail-britain

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I had a look at the times on the Megabus site last night & it didn't mention you have to change vehicles
There will be no change of coach on this service
Passengers for Inverness will be advised to change at Perth (Edinburgh - Inverness service)
 

howittpie

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Just looked at the timetables for those journeys and it seems there should be a 45 minute stop in Glasgow I suppose if it is on time that is. I also believe those journey are van hool deckers.
 

route101

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If its a Van Hool sit upstairs as its quieter . The tri axle ppanthers dont have as good legroom .

The coach is usually already busy coming up from London.
 

Deerfold

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I've travelled on the 2am overnight Megabus from Leeds to London a few times. Last time I got it we had to change buses after about 45 minutes (including finding and transferring our bags) - there was no notification of this until it happened which was annoying as I wouldn't have bothered getting to sleep until we changed if I'd known.
 

Techniquest

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They've been pretty draconian on it in the past. Doesn't matter if you need to keep your phone on so your parents can keep in touch with you if needed during the night (or vice versa) - I once travelled with some under 18s as part of a forum meet with Megabus - you have to turn it off. I can see why they do it on the overnight moves as you don't want to be woken by someone's phone blaring away and/or loud phone conversations at 0200 or whatever, but at the same time I'd still prefer to keep mine on.

As well as it pretty uncomfortable to sleep on the coaches (my experiences are usually I fall asleep no more than an hour before the time to get off :roll:), more often than not the lights were left on all night making sleep very difficult. Coupled with the M1 being incredibly boring to go along all night, there's a reason why I stopped using Megabus!
 

Statto

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They've been pretty draconian on it in the past. Doesn't matter if you need to keep your phone on so your parents can keep in touch with you if needed during the night (or vice versa) - I once travelled with some under 18s as part of a forum meet with Megabus - you have to turn it off. I can see why they do it on the overnight moves as you don't want to be woken by someone's phone blaring away and/or loud phone conversations at 0200 or whatever, but at the same time I'd still prefer to keep mine on.

As well as it pretty uncomfortable to sleep on the coaches (my experiences are usually I fall asleep no more than an hour before the time to get off :roll:), more often than not the lights were left on all night making sleep very difficult. Coupled with the M1 being incredibly boring to go along all night, there's a reason why I stopped using Megabus!

Cant see why they can't ask for Phones to be on silent, rather than switching them off.

Ha, i suffer that problem with sleeping[or trying to sleep]on overnight coaches myself, doesn't help that i'm quite tall so i find sleeping on coaches uncomfortable, & end up restless night & then wanting to sleep an hour, 90 min before i arrive at my destination, the last couple of hours on the way home are the worst for this.
 

Deerfold

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They've been pretty draconian on it in the past. Doesn't matter if you need to keep your phone on so your parents can keep in touch with you if needed during the night (or vice versa) - I once travelled with some under 18s as part of a forum meet with Megabus - you have to turn it off. I can see why they do it on the overnight moves as you don't want to be woken by someone's phone blaring away and/or loud phone conversations at 0200 or whatever, but at the same time I'd still prefer to keep mine on.

As well as it pretty uncomfortable to sleep on the coaches (my experiences are usually I fall asleep no more than an hour before the time to get off :roll:), more often than not the lights were left on all night making sleep very difficult. Coupled with the M1 being incredibly boring to go along all night, there's a reason why I stopped using Megabus!


Is that peculiar to a particular service? I've never been asked to switch my phone off on a megabus - and I'm usually on night ones as I'd rather travel by train but use them at times I can't.
 

Blindtraveler

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neves had a problem with phones and have used the service in question many times.
45 min stop at Glasgow and often early though be warned they often come to 20, 21 or 22 so miles from the terminal building. Unless theres been a problem or breakdown its the decker youl be on and they are good with limmited plug points and wifi. Theres less leg room up stairs though.
If you aint used it before the stop in Birmingham is slap bang opposit argos.
 

mbonwick

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Still at the very early planning stages for the beddy-Astromega.

Don't expect anything this side of 2013 at the earliest...
 

dvboy

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Well, getting some sleep on the Megabus wasn't as easy as I thought it might be given that it was starting to get light by 5am. At least I had a seat to myself for the majority of the journey between Preston and Glasgow (where we were late arriving so we only stopper for about 20 minutes and were let off for a leg stretch). No problems with using phones, it was generally very quiet for most of the journey even when it was light. There was wi-fi on board but I couldn't get either my phone or notebook to obtain an IP address to connect to it.

The biggest problem however was that I'd actually booked my ticket for Friday morning instead of this morning, so having loaded my luggage, I had to unload it while I waited for them to work out if there was a seat available all the way to Aberdeen for me, and whether they would show discretion and allow me to travel. They did, although I think I was luck between Glasgow and Perth, that seemed to be the busiest section of the journey, especially with people who seemed to have bought Citylink tickets on the day.

I feel sorry for anyone who had done the journey all the way up from London, but at least they got pick of the best seats. I think on the return journey I'll try and sit downstairs where it might at least be darker.

If you aint used it before the stop in Birmingham is slap bang opposit argos.

The stop moved on 22nd July to Colmore Circus Queensway.
 
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howittpie

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I find the downstairs alot better as well the wifi at best is flakey I tend to stick with the 3g signal on my phone
 

jamesontheroad

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My only suggested seating location on any coach is as far from the front as you can get. Although they are expanding in the USA, Megabus has had it's reputation tarnished by a number of non-fatal and fatal accidents there. Four were killed when a Philadelphia > Toronto bus missed its off-ramp and collided with a low bridge in 2010, another was killed when a bus drifted off a highway in the mid-west and hit a concrete bridge stanchion.

Picture: CBC News

Buses, like planes, rarely reverse into things at high speed, so the safest seats are at the back.
 

34D

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They've been pretty draconian on it in the past. Doesn't matter if you need to keep your phone on so your parents can keep in touch with you if needed during the night (or vice versa)

How about waiting until you wake up :s

Really can't understand people who leave phones on overnight.
 

route101

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How about waiting until you wake up :s

Really can't understand people who leave phones on overnight.

When i used the overnight Megabus up from London to Glasgow the lady sitting next to me was on her phone most of the night , speaking quietly but very annoying. Quite a few others were doing it as well .

I prefer the upstairs as its smoother and quieter for sleeping.
 
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